I am a newer GM running Wrath of the Righteous with our group and I have encountered a bit of a situation with one of my players.
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About our group/game:
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We have a larger game, 6-7 players depending on who can show up that week. We play a pretty casual game without 3rd party content but with a few home-brew rules that we have made to fit our group, nothing huge just minor tweaks. The group I am playing with is mostly just close friends with one exception, he is a guy that we just play D&D with but isn't really a member of the group of friends.
We decided at the start of the game that, being a mythic campaign, it was going to be a high powered adventure, so we would have a little fun with it. I let the players have a really high point buy with stats (27 points) and ruled that all of pathfinder, aside from the hybrid and occult classes, was open to them. Our group has agreed that the potential for abuse with the hybrid classes is too much and that occult just doesn't work well with the campaign. I have, with the help of a buddy who is a much more experienced GM, been able to balance the challenges of the fights to match the huge numbers and wide spread abilities of the group and to continue to challenge them while allowing the game to be fun and enjoyable for all.
The party is level 7, almost 8, and has 2 sorcerers, an inquisitor, a barbarian, a paladin, a ranger, and a spell slinger wizard/cleric/mystic thurge. For the sake of allowing my players to enjoy their characters and have fun with the mythic system and the story, I have allowed my players to pretty much do anything they want to do within the pathfinder system. I haven't been closely monitoring or managing their characters. The mythic system, along with the high point buy, has made all the characters power houses that are equipped for just about anything I throw at them, I have been raising the CR or changing the circumstances of the fights to allow for them to still be challenged, and we have been trying to lean hard on the RP of the game. As this is a group of friends this has worked fine as the group has been just trying to see through their character concepts and not trying to abuse the system, with one exception...
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The Problem Child:
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The player that is playing the Paladin is an experienced and notorious power gamer. He is in the group as more of a friend of a friend, but unfortunately we are in a situation that if we cut him from the group we will also lose one of the sorcerers, someone who we have all agreed we would like to keep. For this reason removing him from the game is a very last resort. This player has gone out of his way to take advantage of my leaniant GM'ing style and has created a monster character among monster characters.
I have spoken with him about this and he challenges me on every ruling I have made and accuses me of trying to target him. I have explained my reasoning, and he argues with almost every point and brings up examples of what I have allowed of the other players (which they have NOT attempted to abuse as he has) and then acts sarcastic during the game.
The player has also read through the adventure path books and uses that knowledge to meta-game at critical points that are supposed to challenge the group, but otherwise largely stays out of the RP. He has made some VERY questionable actions in game when he has RPed that conflict with the paladin code and being lawful good. For example, there was the time that he allowed a helpless prisoner to be executed without a trial and without a real chance to defend herself or her actions, with only circumstantial evidence (and heaps of meta-game knowledge) that she was in fact the culprit that they were looking for. I have began imposing penalties on him for this behavior and have been met met huge resistance.
The player also insists that he did not try to break his character, and when I try to argue otherwise he threatens "I can show you min-maxing, this isn't it".
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The Monster Among Monsters:
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The rest of the party has a total stat modifier of 11 or 12, aside from one player who currently has a stat boosting item giving him a 13. The paladin has a total modifier of 17 without any stat boosting items! I know that 11-12 at level 7 with no stat boosting items is stupid high, but with the entire party being at the same level, I can compensate, one player being so far ahead complicates this though. He used advanced age categories to boost his mental stats with a penalty to his physical stats then as soon as he got his first mythic tier he used the universal ability Longevity to eliminate the physical penalties while keeping the boosted mental stats. He played an Aasimar, a 15 RP race with no stat penalty.
He attempted to use Beyond Morality to completely negate his need to RP or fulfill his obligation to be Lawful Good but I refused to allow him to take this ability as I am trying to encourage him to actually role play and with the story being so focused on good and evil I felt it was not appropriate here. This, once again, was met with complaints.
He is wearing magical full plate and a magical heavy steel shield. He has mythic shield focus that allows him to add his shield bonus to his touch AC. He has a ring of protection and an amulet of natural armor. This results in him having an AC in the low 30's and having a touch AC in the mid twenties. He has an 18 charisma and a cloak of resistance +2, this with being a paladin means that all of his saves are through the roof. These defenses pretty much dwarf the rest of the entire party.
In addition to having his defenses boosted through the roof he is also an experienced player and uses out of character knowledge to bypass or defend against anything I throw at him.
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In Summary....
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I have been building the encounters to match the party and they have been able to topple much larger threats than any party of their level should have. This is fine as we anticipated this and the party enjoys it, it also allows me to explore the bestiaries and design fun and challenging encounters that would have no place in standard games. The challenge is that if I build an encounter that could conceivably penetrate the paladin's defenses, therefore challenging him as well, then I have built an encounter that has no chance of missing the rest of the party and with saves that they cannot overcome without constantly surging. This has started causing a serious issue and is affecting the ability of my players to have fun or myself to have fun with running the game.
I have spoken to him time and time again and haven't gotten far. We don't really want to remove him from the game as this will come at the expense of losing a player that we want to keep. As the party gains further in levels and wealth this problem is going to continue to be exacerbated as I have heard plans from the rest of the party to make very rich RP based decisions for their characters, while the paladin is planning on further shoring up his defenses and finding a way to add a devastating offense to his repertoire.
I have grudgingly come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with the situation is to kill off his paladin and be more proactive in preventing his next character from being out of control. I hate this solution as I always try to be impartial when it comes to the game and to just allow things to happen naturally. However I am out of alternatives. I am open to suggestions of alternatives but baring that....
How do I kill an overpowered paladin, make it seem organic and part of the story, and not throw something at the party that is going to cause a party wipe?
My question involves charging movement and what is acceptable or unacceptable.
The Core Rulebook (D20pfsrd) says:
Charge:
Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move up to twice your speed and attack during the action. Charging, however, carries tight restrictions on how you can move.
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Movement During a Charge:
You must move before your attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet (2 squares) and may move up to double your speed directly toward the designated opponent. If you move a distance equal to your speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge attack if your base attack bonus is at least +1.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can't charge. If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge. Helpless creatures don't stop a charge.
If you don't have line of sight to the opponent at the start of your turn, you can't charge that opponent.
You can't take a 5-foot step in the same round as a charge.
If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.
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*Emphasis mine
Specifically I am referring to the parts that specify that you have to move directly toward the target and that you must end in the closest square from which you can attack the target.
If the PC is charging a target and the square directly toward the target that the PC could attack from is occupied (and by the rules not valid for a charge) could the PC choose to charge into an adjacent square that would require the same amount of movement and attack from there?
See Example: Image
In the above example, if the green PC were to charge the enemy the most direct path (blue line) would lead to a square occupied by an ally and so would be invalid. Could the PC choose to instead charge along the orange line, using the same amount of movement, to attack the enemy?
Similarly, if the purple PC were to try to charge their enemy and there is a more ambiguous "direct" path to the target, would the PC be able to charge along the orange path to attack the target? If the orange path was blocked and the blue was open could they choose that instead?
We are working on a Dragonlance campaign converted for pathfinder. We are to the point of the story where we have obtained the disks and brought the gods back thus opening up divine magic. I have been playing a sylvanesti elf wizard up to this point but based on my characters personality I would like to add divine to his repitoire.
Our GM is allowing 3.5 content so I am looking at a Wizard/Archivist/Mystic Theurge which I love because it is mostly SAD.
I am currently level 5 wizard, I can retrain class levels (and would like to) to get into MT ASAP.
Can anyone offer advise on how I can make this work at the earliest level and keep my spell levels and caster levels as high as I can?
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This came up in a recent game:
Character A had Character B pinned with the aid of his multiple animal companions each offering +4 aid bonus to his CMD (to a total of something like DC 12 million to escape). Character A then used his animal companions to "Coup de Grace" Character B arguing that while pinned Character B was helpless.
The pinned condition does not state that a character is helpless but does state that the pinned character is "tightly bound" and the helpless condition says "A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy." In this case, does this make a pinned character helpless and thus eligible for a Coup de Grace, or should we assume that since the pinned condition does not explicitly state that the character is "helpless" that they are not eligible for a Coup de Grace?
The conditions both list similar (but differently worded) penalties for the condition. Helpless states that "A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier). Melee attacks against a helpless target get a +4 bonus (equivalent to attacking a prone target)." and pinned states "A pinned creature cannot move and is denied its Dexterity bonus. A pinned character also takes an additional –4 penalty to his Armor Class." The similar penalties seems to imply that they are much the same but the lack of an explicit statement of helplessness in the pinned condition and the different wording seems to imply that they should be different.
I am on the fence about the issue myself and I have seen very convincing arguments in posts from others that favor both sides of the debate. We made an on the fly ruling at the time of the session and have no intention of going back but I think this is something that is ambiguously worded and would like an official ruling or statement of how the rules were intended.
Pinned:
A pinned creature is tightly bound and can take few actions. A pinned creature cannot move and is denied its Dexterity bonus. A pinned character also takes an additional –4 penalty to his Armor Class. A pinned creature is limited in the actions that it can take. A pinned creature can always attempt to free itself, usually through a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check. A pinned creature can take verbal and mental actions, but cannot cast any spells that require a somatic or material component. A pinned character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level) or lose the spell. Pinned is a more severe version of grappled, and their effects do not stack.
Casting Spells while Pinned: The only spells which can be cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, you must make a concentration check (DC 10 + the grappler's CMB + the level of the spell you're casting) or lose the spell.
Helpless:
A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier). Melee attacks against a helpless target get a +4 bonus (equivalent to attacking a prone target). Ranged attacks get no special bonus against helpless targets. Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets.
As a full-round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe. An enemy can also use a bow or crossbow, provided he is adjacent to the target. The attacker automatically hits and scores a critical hit. (A rogue also gets his sneak attack damage bonus against a helpless foe when delivering a coup de grace.) If the defender survives, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity.
Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not take critical damage, nor do they need to make Fortitude saves to avoid being killed by a coup de grace.
Coup de Grace:
As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace (pronounced "coo day grahs") to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.
You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace.
Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents.
You can't deliver a coup de grace against a creature that is immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you've determined what square it's in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).
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In our game we have a player who has a hunter with the packmaster Archetype and is planning on taking about 5 animal companions and then take Boon companion for each of them.
Currently we are at 2nd level and he has a turtle and a falcon both of which he has taken boon companion for. So he has 2, 2nd level companions. At this level it isn't that big of a deal but I see problems arising in the future...
He has stated that he plans of taking a new companion each level up to 5th level. Being a human he will have 4 feats, all of which he is planning on taking Boon Companion for. This will give him 4, 5th level companions and a 1st level companion. That's 21 levels of animal companions at level 5!
If we look forward to 20th level, assuming he is going to split levels equally for each of the 5 companions, that makes 5, 8th level companions. Sure, 8th level companions at 20th level are giong to be under powered individually, but when stacking aid bonuses and teamwork feats this could potentially get ridiculous fast. He would effectively have the animal companion level of a 40th level druid. (5 companions * 8 levels each = 40 levels)
When asked he has stated that by higher levels this will loose effectiveness as they wont keep up with attack bonus and damage bonus of higher level characters so it is not broken and clearly as the rules were intended...
Packmaster Archetype:
Pack Bond (Ex)
A packmaster can have more than one animal companion, but she must divide her effective druid level between her companions to determine the abilities of each one. For example, a 4th-level packmaster can have one 4th-level animal companion, two 2nd-level companions, one 3rd-level companion and one 1st-level companion, or four 1st-level companions.
When a packmaster gains a level, she must decide how to allocate the increase among her animal companions, including whether or not to add a new 1st-level companion. Once a hunter level is allocated to a particular companion, it cannot be redistributed while that companion is in the packmaster's service. She must release the companion or wait until the companion dies to allocate its levels to another companion, which she can then do the next time she refreshes her spell slots for the day. The share spells animal companion ability applies to only one animal companion at a time—the packmaster cannot use it to cast a spell that affects only a single target and have the spell affect all of her animal companions.
A packmaster's precise companion, woodland stride, and teamwork feats apply to only one of her animal companions at a time. (For example, a packmaster can apply precise companion to one companion, woodland stride to another, and a given teamwork feat to a third, but cannot apply any of those to two animal companions at once.) As a swift action, she can change which companion gains any or all of these benefits.
This ability replaces animal companion.
Boon Companion:
Your bond with your animal companion or familiar is unusually close.
Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class feature.
Benefit: The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level. If you have more than one animal companion or familiar, choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an animal companion or familiar that has received this benefit, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.
Special: You may select this feat more than once. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different animal companion or familiar.
The feat seems to state that each animal companion can be boosted up to the players effective druid level and that you can take this feat for each companion. By RAW this seems to be completely legal and stack with the archetype...right?
My questions are:
Is this legal?
Is this broken?
Is this as intended?
I would greatly appreciate an official ruling or maybe an errata or FAQ. Thank you,
I need someone to help clarify the rules and explain how these abilities/feats go together.
We are looking at:
Gunslinger (pistolero) 5, Human
BAB: 5 DEX: +3
Feat: Deadly Aim
Feat: Rapid Shot
Feat: Two Weapon Fighting
Weapons: MWK Pepperbox & Double Barrel Pistol
So for attack modifiers we have:
+5 BAB
+3 DEX
-2 Deadly Aim
-2 Rapid Shot
-4 TWF
+1 MWK Mainhand
+1 (+0 offhand) Total
A gunslinger gets one attack at 5th level, then an extra attack from rapid shot, an extra attack from haste and an extra attack from TWF, for a total of 4 attacks: +1/+1/+1 +0.
Damage is more straightforward
1d8 Both guns
+3 From Gun Training
+4 From Deadly Aim
TOTAL 1d8+7
4 attacks for a potential total of 4d8+28 at a x4 crit at 5th level?!
Granted doing this kills your attack, but I'll be shooting touch AC to help compensate.
Up Close and Deadly:
At 1st level, when the pistolero hits a target with a one-handed firearm that is not making a scatter shot, she can spend 1 grit point to deal 1d6 points of extra damage on a hit. If she misses with the attack, she grazes the target, dealing half the extra damage anyway. This is precision damage and is not multiplied if the attack is a critical hit. This precision damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, to 3d6 at 10th level, to 4d6 at 15th level, and to 5d6 at 20th level. This precision damage stacks with sneak attack and other forms of precision damage.
It is worse if I burn my 4 grit Up Close and Deadly, it becomes 4d8+8d6+28 dmg at 5th level....
Now this gets real confusing when you consider this same situation in 2 levels...
BAB goes to +7/+2 and you gain Dead Shot.
Attacks +3/+3/+3/-2 +2
Dead Shot:
At 7th level, as a full-round action, the gunslinger can take careful aim and pool all of her attack potential into a single, deadly shot. When she does this, she shoots the firearm at a single target, but makes as many attack rolls as she can, based on her base attack bonus. She makes the attack rolls in order from highest bonus to lowest, as if she were making a full attack. If any of the attack rolls hit the target, the gunslinger’s single attack is considered to have hit. For each additional successful attack roll beyond the first, the gunslinger increases the damage of the shot by the base damage dice of the firearm. For instance, if a 7th-level gunslinger firing a musket hits with both attacks, she does 2d12 points of damage with the shot, instead of 1d12 points of damage, before adding any damage modifiers. Precision damage and extra damage from weapon special abilities (such as flaming) are added with damage modifiers and are not increased by this deed. If one or more rolls are critical threats, she confirms the critical once using her highest base attack bonus –5. For each critical threat beyond the first, she reduces this penalty by 1 (to a maximum of 0). The gunslinger only misfires on a dead shot if all the attack rolls are misfires. She cannot perform this deed with a blunderbuss or other scatter weapon when attacking creatures in a cone. The gunslinger must spend 1 grit point to perform this deed.
Can I pool all of these attacks (including the offhand one) into one super shot with the Dead Shot deed and do 5d8+7 damage in a single shot?
Can I then use Up Close and Deadly on the dead shot? Can I only use it only once or on each of the attacks that went into it?
Am I doing the math right?
Do all of these abilities and feats stack?
This is very confusing to me and I would like someone to make more sense of these rules together. Maybe an official ruling?
I have a group of 4 (including me) players that play frequently. We are all in our late 20's to mid 30's and enjoy a good roleplaying experience with solid action. The other guys have been playing D&D for years and have experience as far back as 2nd edition. I started about 2 years ago and only have experience with pathfinder.
We have a casual game style. We mostly stick to the books but will ocasionally make little exceptions if: you can roleplay it in, it makes since for your character, and it doesn't break the game. The other players have kind of been throwing new games at us and GMing them as we finish one and they have one prepared. We do mostly premade stuff with with the occasional "spice" thrown in, while one of our players has a knack for some great homebrew games.
Being the only one of the 4 to not GM for us up to this point I would like to give it a try.
I want something to get my feet wet as a GM while still being fun and engaging for the mature, veteran players I will be playing with. I would like something fairly straightforward but would allow me room to "flex my creative muscles" a little.
I think a game that has multiple steps or segments would be ideal. That way if it works we can continue while if it fails we can relatively painlessly quit at a break in the story.
This is a long winded description of a simple question, I know, I just didnt want suggestions of stuff like "crypt of the everflame!". While stuff like that is great for new GM with new\young players, its not for me I think.
We are starting an epic level campaign and will be starting at level 20.
I have been just browsing different options and found the Hellknight Signifier. I love the idea of a Hellknight and their order, and mixing the spell-casting with heavy armor seems cool.
So, I decided I am going to go a Tiefling Wizard 9, Fighter 1, Hellknight Signifier 10 and it sounded like a good concept at first but now I am hitting a wall. The level of fighter is to lighten the entry fee into hellknight.
I am looking at possible combat strategies and spell/ability combinations but nothing really pops. I like the idea of the Deminsional Dervish tree and I have the spells to make it work but this character is going to be very sub-par in melee. The BaB of this character is going to be 12.
So am I simply looking at a wizard in heavy armor with diminished spellcasting and some fluff abilities? Is there any way I can make this character have any worth-while contribution to combat standing beside a level 20 fighter and a level 20 magus?
I have already committed to this build in our GM's eyes so if you guys can offer any suggestions on spells/feats/gear/strategies to make this an effective (or at least not worthless) build that would be great. I love the RP and fluff but that's all I got at this point...
In a game we are currently playing the PC's are 20th level. One player has a Kensai/Bladebound Magus. This has caused a heated debate about sneak attacks.
The Kensai Archetype has a 19th level ability that is:
At 19th level, a kensai’s initiative roll is automatically a natural 20 and he is never surprised.
This ability replaces greater spell access.
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The situation is that a 20th level ninja using the ninja capstone
At 20th level, a ninja becomes a true master of her art. She can, as a standard action, cast greater invisibility on herself. While invisible in this way, she cannot be detected by any means, and not even invisibility purge, see invisibility, and true seeing can reveal her. She uses her ninja level as her caster level for this ability. Using this ability consumes 3 ki points from her ki pool. In addition, whenever the ninja deals sneak attack damage, she can sacrifice additional damage dice to apply a penalty to one ability score of the target equal to the number of dice sacrificed for 1 minute. This penalty does not stack with itself and cannot reduce an ability score below 1.
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...is attacking the Kensai.
-- Does the Kensai negate the sneak attack because he cant be "surprised"?
-- ...or does the ninja get a sneak attack because he is undetectable?
-- The ninja can make a total of 6 attacks in a full round attack, do they all qualify as sneak attacks?
-- The Magis has Arcane Sight
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 min./level (D)
This spell makes your eyes glow blue and allows you to see magical auras within 120 feet of you. The effect is similar to that of a detect magic spell, but arcane sight does not require concentration and discerns aura location and power more quickly.
You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight. An aura's power depends on a spell's functioning level or an item's caster level, as noted in the description of the detect magic spell (see tables above.) If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Spellcraft skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + half caster level for a nonspell effect.)
If you concentrate on a specific creature within 120 feet of you as a standard action, you can determine whether it has any spellcasting or spell-like abilities, whether these are arcane or divine (spell-like abilities register as arcane), and the strength of the most powerful spell or spell-like ability the creature currently has available for use.
As with detect magic, you can use this spell to identify the properties of magic items, but not artifacts.
Arcane sight can be made permanent with a permanency spell.
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...as a constant effect (permanency), can he see the ninja's powerful magic item auras?
I find myself in need of a mobile crafting workshop that I can count on to be secure. I have a homunculus that aids in crafting by spending the time crafting while I check in an hour a day to make skill checks. So I need to have a workshop that is survivable while being mobile or mobily accessed, secure from teft/loss/destruction, relatively large for storage or bigger projects, and I need to be able to affor and/or craft it.
Currently level 7 with craft wonderous, scribe scroll, brew potion, craft construct, and craft homunculus.
My DM allows pathfinder and 3.5 but no homebrew or 3rd party.
I have played with several ideas and can't find anything that quite fits all my needs:
Mobily Accessed: I have a large property that is secure and I could build an elaborate workshop on but I need to be able to get there and back to where we are adventuring daily. Teleporting lets me do that but I won't be familiar with a random camping spot we settle in for the night so the failure chance becomes an issue. Also I do not have the CL to craft an item or cast the spell teleportation so it would get very expensive.
Mobile workshop: I will need a very large workspace because I will be focusing on constructs and will need to store the ones that are not currently in use and space to craft more. as well as having a forge and space enough to craft. So a large vehicle workspace is impractical.
Extradimensional Workspace: I would need to anchor it to a vehicle or item that would allow not only personal travel back and forth but also allow me to bring constructs (possibly up to colossal size but frequently large size and exceedingly heavy). If anchored to a vehicle how do I ensure it is safe and secure when I can't be with it (in a dungeon, etc.) If in an item how do I get my constructs in/out? In both cases I need it to be survivable when I am not there and/or traveling, so that my homunculus can keep working and my forge fire stays burning.
Extraplaner: EXPENSIVE and also will require a much higjer CL. this is the best option I have found but to make it practical in my campaign I need to make it work for 50k or less. On that note I like genesis from 3.5 cause I can change timeflow so that i can craft long crafting time items with only seconds passing on the material plane but I need to figure out how to bypass the whole aging thing, because i don't want my character to die at age 30 cause he is physically 150.
These are my thoughts so far. Any insight/advise/guidance/thoughts on the matter?
We are playing the kingmaker campaign. I had a ninja/assassin that I was playing but I got him killed, so now I am playing an dwarf Artificer converted over from Eberron in 3.5.
The basic persona I am shooting for with my artificer is kind of a "steampunk mad scientist". It is working amazingly in this campaign as it is very high-wealth and has a good bit of downtime to use for crafting.
I want to make lots of constructs and use them as both RP fluff and practical offense/defense but with the feel of the character I don't want to make just general constructs, I want them to primarily be clockwork. So far the only clockwork constructs I have found are the steed, leviathan, goliath, spy, soldier, and mender.
Now for my question:
Where can I find more clockwork constructs or machines? I want things like clockwork vehicles, gear, machines, and constructs, basically if it has gears and whirly-magigs I want it.
Our GM is allowing Pathfinder and 3.5 content, no homebrew or 3rd party.
I am plating my first druid and while I love it the shear number of options and possibilities is a little overwhelming. Anyway, on to the questions...
1. How do I catch animals to train without spells?
The campaign I am playing there is no divine magic or supernatural abilities until we are able to restore them (Around level 3-5) so I am a little gimped at the moment. I have read through the spells and I know Call Animal would do the trick but lacking that...how can I catch a bear.
2. How many animals could I have or train?
I know that non animal companion animals can have an impact on combat if the are properly trained but can I really have an army of 150 grizzly bears march into combat with me?
Also there is a possibility later in the campaign I will want to train large numbers of mounts (probably hippogriffs) for our army. How many can I train at once?
3. Train for other special purposes?
I think birds could be expecially useful for non-combat roles. Could I train a hawk to scout for me and alert me to humanoids on the trail ahead of the party? How about a raven to deliver messages (without the animal messenger spell)? Maybe an owl as a night watchman to alert me of intruders at camp?
Any resources that you may be able to suggest that could offer information, advice, or insight on these things would be great.
I work in a facility for troubled adolescents and my clients are very much interested in playing D&D. I only began playing with my friends about 3 months ago but I have been doing a lot of reading and research and feel as if I have a firm understanding of the game's concepts.
I have never DM'ed before and the clients I will be playing with have never played before, they are 13-17 years old. I really want to get them started playing on Pathfinder, the version I have learned.
I would like it if someone could recommend for me a campaign to use for the guys that would be simple to play for them and simple to run for me. I also need a campaign that would not have much or any adult content. The guys are pretty smart but don't have experience with the game so some difficulty that could be puzzled out without in depth knowledge of game concepts and "lore" would be OK. I want enough to keep them engaged and entertained but not enough that the younger or weaker players become overwhelmed or bored.
Also, what else would I need? I know how to play the game and have played(though not for long). I own and have read the core rule-book, advanced players guide, and the Gamemastery guide. I have bestiary 1 and 2. I have dice, character sheets, and a dry-erase battle grid for battles. Is there anything I am missing to be successful in my first venture into DM'ing?
